Weekly jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 358,000 in the week ended Feb 4., according to the Labor Department. Last week’s tumble was much greater than originally anticipated; economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires were expecting claims to drop by 3,000 to 370,000.

The better-than-expected data come after the January nonfarm payrolls report showed 243,000 jobs were added last month, the biggest gain in nine months and second consecutive month of at least 200,000 job gains. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.

Additionally, the weekly claims’ four-week moving average, which attempts to smoothe out the volatile weekly figures, tumbled by 11,000 to 366,250, the lowest amount since April 2008. The further claims fall beneath the key 400,000 level, the greater the likelihood that job growth is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Dow futures are up 16 points, S&P 500 futures are up 1 point.

Here’s a smattering of reactions from some market pundits:

Dan Greenhaus at BTIG: This is unquestionably a positive for the economy; increased hiring almost always follows a decrease in firing. Further, with broad credit creation expanding, particularly consumer credit, many indicators are lining up to suggest that the recent pace of employment growth is set to continue. For those looking to the labor market as the proverbial last piece of the puzzle, a 358K initial jobless claims number should serve as evidence that the final piece of the recovery puzzle is moving into place.

Michael Shaoul at Oscar Gruss & Son: This data is now honing in on the “recovery range” that we have marked in a band around the 350K level which has long been our target during the seasonally favorable period that will expire around Easter. Although much still needs to be done to normalize aggregate employment levels (and we doubt that we will recover all the jobs lost during the crisis, particularly in the financial sector) we have now reached the point that improving employment starts to contribute meaningfully to overall economic activity.

Peter Boockvar at Miller Tabak: Bottom line, as seen with Friday’s payroll figure, the labor market continues to improve but we all watch for its sustainability in light of growing overseas challenges.

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